Latter-day Saint missionaries returning to U.S., Canada given option to return to service at late date

Missionaries of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints speak with a couple about their faith, date and location unspecified | Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. George News

ST. GEORGE — As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change the way people, governments and institutions operate, it has also triggered yet another adjusted to the Latter-day Saints’ missionary program.

A pair of LDS missionaries speaking to someone, location and date unspecified | Photo courtesy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, St. George News

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced Tuesday that missionaries returning to the United States and Canada who are waiting to be reassigned may have the option to serve at a later date.

“The ability to reassign these missionaries – even on a temporary basis – has now become more limited by changing conditions,” LDS church leaders said in a press release Tuesday. “This has created a measure of uncertainty for many missionaries and their families.”

Due to the changes and complications the pandemic continues to cause, missionaries returning to the U.S. and Canada are being temporarily released from the missionary status. However, they can choose to be reinstated to either a temporary assignment or their original mission as conditions allow, with the ending date of their original mission intact, or choose to return to service within 12 to 18 months with a new mission end date applied.

Missionaries is the U.S. and Canada currently participating in online Missionary Training Center training sessions can be released from the online training and be reinstated to either a temporary or original assignment as conditions allow with the original end date of their mission, or be released and return to service within 12-18 month with a new mission end date.

The missionaries need to make a choice by April 30.

“Each opportunity requires a temporary release prior to reassignment,” the press release states. “We are confident that missionaries and prospective missionaries will seek the counsel of parents, priesthood leaders and the Lord as they consider their future missionary service.”

Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2020, all rights reserved.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mori Kessler serves as a Senior Reporter for St. George News, having previously contributed as a writer and Interim Editor in 2011-12, and an assistant editor from 2012 to mid-2014. He began writing news as a freelancer in 2009 for Today in Dixie, and joined the writing staff of St. George News in mid-2010. He enjoys photography and won an award for photojournalism from the Society of Professional Journalists for a 2018 photo of a bee inspector removing ferals bees from a Washington City home. He is also a shameless nerd and has a bad sense of direction.